You're Not Alone.
How are you feeling? Are you overwhelmed? Just hanging in there?
You’re not alone.
I think we’re all feeling it this year, and many of us have too much pride to let the “I’m fine” mask slip. Some of us are afraid the cracks will give way and reveal something deep, intimate, and truthful.
Too often, the morning greets us with bad news, and for many of us, our bank accounts follow up with more bad news. Even the weather seems against us, trapping different parts of the world in a relentless heat wave.
When we step into the office, be it in a corporate park or at home, the day carries on as normal. The trains run (mostly) on time. That coworker who loves hanging out at the water cooler is ready and waiting to gush about last night’s new show. Social media serves up photos and videos of family, friends, and neighbors showcasing their best selves without a care in the world. Ads litter our social media feeds, offering distractions meant to bury that icky, unsettling feeling that we can’t shake. Amazon pings our email to remind us about that item we were looking at a month ago, and oh(!), wouldn’t it be nice to finally have it delivered to our doorstep? It can be here by 5 AM next morning; isn’t that grand? Just BUY NOW.
When you’re adrift in a society that masks earnest, raw feelings, it can feel awfully lonely. For people who create and share art, more and more AI-generated works clog the Internet superhighway, amplifying that emptiness. It can feel like, when we’re sharing pieces of ourselves, we share them with a void—one that wants nothing of ours but constantly demands our attention.
It’s a surreal and complex feeling. We live in a world that’s constantly on, and if we let ourselves go and embrace it, we’re rewarded (for a time). We can join the party. The minute we’re out of sync, it’s easy to internalize those feelings and wonder what’s wrong with us?
It’s a veneer. Nothing is as advertised. Everyone’s having a blast in the Emerald City, but that Wizard of Oz? He’s a man behind a curtain, pulling strings and using plumes of smoke to obscure a hologram.
For those who haven’t seen the ads yet, The Wizard of Oz is coming back to theaters this month. It’s at The Sphere, the $2.3 billion Las Vegas event space that has “four football fields’ worth of 16K LED screens.” Early reports tout how beautiful and riveting the experience is, selling to the public what (supposedly) mostly AI has done to enhance a film that has been inspiring hearts and minds for generations. But like the real wizard, those reports of generative AI’s use are mostly overblown. VFX artists have been speaking out, noting that a team of dedicated artists have meticulously built sets and recreated movie magic for this release.
This isn’t the only arena where the promise of technology has been greatly oversold. ChatGPT, the nifty tool that people use for everything from drafting emails to planning trips or making videos, isn’t wholly independent from the work of others. It’s becoming less of a secret these days that ChatGPT’s information is strongly dependent on Google Search. The creators would like you to believe that they created something wholly new or unique, but it’s built on the foundation of other technological marvels that have come before.
The point is, it’s easy to feel disillusioned and lost in a society that shows only the miracle but rarely the toil, trials, and sweat that went into engineering those miracles. When we see these mystifying wonders or are constantly faced with the success of others and never the shortcomings, there’s a little voice that whispers to every one of us.
“Why bother?” This little voice offers, free of charge. “Why struggle? Why push? Why forge ahead when there are so many others who can and are doing it much better than you?”
Because behind the veneer, there’s another person like you looking for the same thing you are. Because what makes this world feel less isolating and empty is the validation of real human emotions. Because no one is doing it better.
The more our world gets clogged with advertisements and AI agents who will happily endure our chores, the more pertinent it is to make time to create and unapologetically share our emotions with another human being. The kids have a phrase for breaking free of the Internet and experiencing something real. They’ll remind each other to “touch grass.”
I’m not that hip. I aged out of it long ago, but I’ll tell you something that keeps me grounded.
Every day, there’s someone out there putting on a brave face and sharing something born from their soul. It could be something silly. It might be a haunting work of art or a jaw-dropping film. It could be a love letter to someone they lost many years ago. If our human experience means anything, it’s this idea of forming bonds and community.
Finish your story. Put the last brushstroke on your painting. Close the melody on that latest guitar riff. And never, ever give up. I’m counting on you, and I believe in you.
Always and forever.
Your friend,
Scott
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P.P.S. Here are the latest happenings in my neck of the woods:
I started a new monthly newsletter called Books & Boards. Find Adventure #1: Terrorvision here.
If you’re interested in reading more, go to manage your subscriptions and update them to include Books & Boards.
I have a video review of Defenders of the Earth #8.
I embrace the coming doom. I want to have a happy ending version of that Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meridith.